Judgment Day (2008)
Judgment Day (2008) was a professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event produced by WWE for Extreme (WWEFE), which took place on May 18, 2008 at the Qwest Center Omaha in Omaha, Nebraska. It was the tenth annual Judgment Day event and starred wrestlers from the RAW, SmackDown!, and ECW brands. The show's seven matches showcased prominent WWE wrestlers, who acted out the franchise's stories in and out of the ring. The main event featured SmackDown! wrestlers in a Triple Threat match, a match where the first of three superstars to secure a fall wins. In this match, John Bradshaw Layfield (JBL) defeated Duke Allen and WWE Champion Mickie James to win the title. In RAW's main match, World Heavyweight Champion Ashley Massaro defeated Slade Mathens to retain her title. While in ECW's prime match, Bull Buchanan defeated ECW Champion Sold1er to win his first world title. From the six scheduled bouts on the undercard, two received more promotion than the others; these bouts included in two respective singles matches, Kris Kutter wrestling Jazz Powers to a stalemate and Addison Azure winning an Odd Man Out match. Judgment Day received 252,000 pay-per-view buys, and was instrumental in helping WWE increase its pay-per-view revenue by $21.9 million compared to the previous year. The professional wrestling section of the Canadian Online Explorer website rated the entire event 6 out of 10, higher than the 2007 event, which was marked "as an average show". Background Judgment Day was the culmination of various scripted plots and storylines. A month before the event, several professional wrestling matches and scripted plots were played out on WWE programming (Monday night RAW, Friday Night SmackDown!, and ECW on Sci Fi) to create feuds between various wrestlers, casting them as villains and heroes. RAW, SmackDown!, and ECW were also the names of WWE's televised brands – a storyline division in which WWE assigned its employees to a specific program, thus each brand promoted distinct matches. The main event scripted into Judgment Day on the SmackDown! brand featured WWE Champion Mickie James defending the title against John Bradshaw Layfield and Duke Allen. The buildup to the match began after Backlash, WWE's previous pay-per-view event, where JBL defeated Duke Allen to become the new WWE Champion. The following night on an episode of SmackDown!, one of WWE's primary television programs, cashed in his rematch clause for Judgment Day. The Friday before Judgment Day, on another episode of SmackDown!, Mickie James cashed in her Money in the Bank contract to win her first WWE Championship. It was later announced that the match at Judgment Day a Triple Threat match, where all three wrestlers would compete, with the first to gain a pin or submission over one of the others would win the match. One of the featured preliminary matches on the RAW brand was between World Heavyweight Champion Ashley Massaro and Slade Mathens. At Backlash, Ashley had won the championship from Dacia Stoker in a match that also involved Shawn Michaels. The following night on RAW, General Manager Devin Jacobs, a portrayed match maker and rules enforcer, announced a small elimination-style tournament, with the winner earning the right to challenge Ashley at Judgment Day. Mathens won, creating the match. On the May 5 edition of RAW, Ashley was on commentary as her partner Eve Torres defeated Mathens. The other featured preliminary match was hosted by the ECW brand, between ECW Champion Sold1er and Bull Buchanan. Sold1er had won the championship from The Manhunter at Backlash, in a match that also featured Genesis. Over the next few weeks, a "Glass Ceiling" tournament was held, a tournament for contendership to a title that none of the participants have held. The tournament brackets were: During this time, Sold1er was running a campaign of Ant-Extreme, attempting to ban the extreme rules practice on the ECW brand. As a result, the ECW Championship match was contested under WWE rules, an oddity for an ECW match. Another primary match on the undercard was the finals in a WWE United States Championship tournament, which was to determine the new United States Champion after the title had been vacated by Refugee Tim. The tournament brackets leading up to and during the event were: Event Preliminary matches The first televised match was between Hardcore Champion Chris Masters and Dogma in a Hardcore match for the title. Leading up to the match, both men had been supporting the Extremist movement, a group opposing Sold1er's Anti-Extremists, making this match a demonstration of their alignment. Master utilized his bodyguard, Big Steve, early in the match to wear Dogma down. Due to the hardcore rules, both superstars were allowed to use weapons to wear down their opponents, which Masters and Steve both did during the opening moments. Dogma made use of a pair of brass knuckles to take Steve out of the match, but Masters used a baseball bat wrapped in barbed wire, and later a plank of wood covered in barbed wire, to tear at Dogma's face and arms. Dogma used a fork to tear at the forehead of Masters, which lead Masters to escalate the violence by setting up a table, covering it in thumbtacks, then lighting it on fire. Dogma went through the burning table, then submitted to Masters signature move, the Masterlock (a modified full nelson). Masters won to retain the Hardcore Championship. The next match was between X-Division Champion Trish Stratus and Chris Starr. Joe Hennig had previously been scheduled for the match, but was replaced with Starr at the last minute, due to Hennig being released from the company. Trish attempted to use her sex appeal to distract Starr, but the tactic didn't work. Chris nearly got an early win, thanks to him using his feet for leverage on the bottom rope during a schoolboy pin, but the official noticed this and didn't count the pin. Trish gained the advantage following this, until Starr hit her with a flip piledriver to win the match and his first X-Division Championship. The next match was a handicap match between Beast and the team of Refugee Matt and Television Champion Andy Brookes. Matt and Brookes represented the Anti-Extremists, while Beast represented the Extremists. Despite the numbers disadvantage, Beast seemed capable of handling the two on his own, dominating both Andy and Matt early in the match. However, the Anti-Extremists made frequent tags, wearing Beast down until Matt hit a running punt to the skull. Andy finished the match by applying his finishing hold, the Perfect Lock (a full nelson hold). Beast passed out, giving Matt and Andy the win. The next match on the undercard was Intercontinental Champion Eve Torres versus Drew McIntyre. McIntyre had won a single-elimination tournament on RAW to earn this title match. McIntyre used bully tactics, taking advantage of his size advantage and frequently bending the rules to dominate most of the match. Eve gained the advantage by dropping Drew's torso across the top rope, and following up with a diving shoulder tackle. She then locked him in an ankle lock, a submission maneuver, which Drew would eventually escape from. Eve dominated for a short while, but Drew raked her eyes, another heel tactic, to gain the advantage once more. He continued to bend the rule, eventually getting into an argument with the acting official, Brian Hebner. This allowed Eve to regain control, hitting her finishing maneuver, the Eve of a New Morning, a forward Russian leg sweep. Drew kicked out of the resulting pin, and later used the steel steps located at ringside as a weapon against Eve, something that is allowed in normal WWE rules so long as the wrestler is thrown into the stairs, and not the other way around. After wearing Eve down more, he hit her with his own finisher, the Future Shock DDT, to pin Eve and win his first Intercontinental Championship. The next match featured on the card was the main event for the ECW brand, where ECW Champion Sold1er defending against Bull Buchanan. Buchanan had won a "Glass Ceiling" tournament for the right to challenge the ECW Championship at the event. Early in the match, Sold1er attempted to sneak attack Buchanan by going outside the ring, where he could enter the ring later and ambush Buchanan when he followed. This only served to anger Buchanan, who used his strength to overpower Sold1er. The match ended when Sold1er avoided a suplex, but was then hit with a stunner by Buchanan, who won the match and his first world championship. The next match was the finals in a tournament to crown the next WWE United States Champion, after Refugee Tim had vacated the championship at Backlash. The match was contested between Kris Kutter and Jazz Powers, who had both advanced to the finals by defeating other superstars on previous episodes of SmackDown!. The match was back and forth, with both superstars trading momentum. Partway through the match, acting official Nick Patrick was knocked out, allowing Kutter to hit Jazz with his signature move, the Kutter Driver, onto the United States Championship belt. A second official, Jack Doane, was brought out, although Kutter couldn't pin Jazz at that time. Later in the match, Nick Patrick woke up in time to see Jazz tap out to a wrist lock, while Jack Doane was counting Jazz's pin on Kutter. Do to both Powers and Kutter having legitimate claims to victory, the match was ruled a no-contest and the title remained vacant. Main event matches The first match on the upper card was an Odd Man Out match, in which five wrestlers compete in an elimination-style match, with the first three superstars eliminated receiving secondary prizes, and the final winner receiving the highest prize. In this match, championship opportunities were at stake, with the first two losers receiving a shot at the Unified Tag Team Championship, the third loser winning a shot at his or her respective mid-card title, and the winner to receive a world championship opportunity. The participants were Lance Storm, Blaze, CM Punk, Fergus Doyle and the debuting Addison Azure. Azure was replacing Yue Nishimura, who had been promoted to assistant General Manager of RAW, and this taken out of the match. The first elimination occurred when Azure forced CM Punk to tap out, and the second when Blaze hit Fergus Doyle with his signature Dead on Arrival maneuver, making Punk and Doyle the new number one contenders for the Unified Tag Team Championship. Blaze began to control the match, due to his larger size, eliminating Storm with the Dead on Impact, making him the number one contender for the WWE Intercontinental Championship. Azure later won the match with her signature submission, the Ghost Flower, forcing Blaze to tap out and making herself the number one contender for the World Heavyweight Championship. The next match was World Heavyweight Champion Ashley Massaro defending against Slade Mathens. Slade attempted to shake Ashley's hand early in the match, but Ashley slapped Slade instead, not trusting him due to his villainous nature. Ashley went on the offensive, until Slade used his size advantage to wear the champion down. He later locked her in a front facelock submission, injuring her back and giving Slade the definite advantage. Ashley turned things around with her superior speed, avoiding Slade and causing him to injure himself on the canvas. After both participants took time to recover, Ashley went on the offensive once more, as she targeted his arm with a modified arm bar. The match went outside the ring, where Slade put Ashley through the announce table with a diving elbow drop from the ring. In doing so, Slade hurt himself as much as he did Ashley. When the two returned to the ring, Ashley hit Slade with a 450° splash off the top rope, allowing her to pin him and retain the World Heavyweight Championship. The final match on the card saw WWE Champion Mickie James defend against John Bradshaw Layfield (JBL) and Duke Allen. James had won the belt from JBL on the SmackDown! prior, cashing in her Money in the Bank contract. Allen chose to allow JBL to take his frustrations out on Mickie, jumping JBL after he'd attacked the champion. Mickie then targeted Duke with her powerful kicks, until JBL choked her out. Duke took JBL down, and then Mickie did the same to Duke, and JBL threw Mickie out of the ring. JBL and Duke began to compete, leaving Mickie outside the ring until she climbed the turnbuckle and went of a West Coast Pop. Duke caught her in mid-air, and he and JBL teamed briefly to work over the champion. They then began to fight amongst themselves, allowing James dropkick both men out of the ring, and then dive through the ropes into the challengers. Mickie and JBL began to fight, with James countering a scoop slam into a hurricanrana. She attempted a diving crossbody, but JBL caught her in the air and both of them were taken down by Duke Allen. Duke hit James with the Duke Allen special, but then JBL hit Duke with the Clothesline from Hell. JBL pinned Allen to begin his fifth reign as WWE Champion. Aftermath Due to winning the Odd Man Out match, Addison Azure was scheduled to challenge Ashley Massaro for the World Heavyweight Championship at Extreme Rules in a cage match. Mickie James cashed in her rematch against JBL, and the two met at Extreme Rules in a Last Man Standing match. The next episode of SmackDown!, General Manager Zoey Bates announced a "Best of Seven" series between Kris Kutter and Jazz Powers to determine the rightful United States Champion, scheduled to conclude at Night of Champions. Chris Starr was scheduled to defend his X-Division Championship against Jerry Static and the winner of a qualifier match on SmackDown! The title match was held at Extreme Rules, and was the first Ultimate X Match to be held after the closing of the iMPACT! brand. Fergus Doyle, unhappy about having to team with CM Punk, attempted to win the Unified Tag Team Championships with his partner Gerard O'Reilly on the May 23 episode of SmackDown! in a losing efort. Doyle and CM Punk reluctantly teamed to challenge Kris Kutter and Hillbilly Jim at Extreme Rules. Likeiwse, Drew McIntyre went on to defend his Intercontinental Championship against Lance Storm, as determined by the Odd Man Out match. Reception The Qwest Center Omaha had a maximum capacity of 17,000, but the capacity was reduced for the event. This event received 252,000 pay-per-view buys. Judgment Day helped WWE earn $39.8 million in revenue from pay-per-view events versus $17.9 million the previous year, which was later confirmed by Linda McMahon, the CEO of WWE, on August 5, 2008 in a quarterly result. Canadian Online Explorer's professional wrestling section rated the event 6 out of 10., which was marked as an average show that maintained the recent WWE philosophy of wrestling over ridiculousness. The standard match between Eve Torres and Drew McIntyre was rated an 8 out of 10. Additionally, the matches of Kris Kutter versus Jazz Powers and Ashley Massaro versus Slade Mathens were rated 6 out of 10. The event was released on DVD on June 17, 2008. The DVD was distributed by the label, Sony Music Entertainment. Results Category:Judgment Day Category:WWE for Extreme Category:Pay-Per-View Events